Kikuube Councilor Arrested Over Attempted Assault Of Minister

Nestor Tumwesigye, a councilor for the Kyangwali sub-LC5 county’s in the Kikuube district, spent the night in custody after being charged with attempting to assault Fred Byamukama, the state’s minister for works and transportation. 

The event took place on Wednesday during a meeting to raise awareness for the district’s parish development model-PDM implementers.

The meeting at the district headquarters became problematic when the majority of parish chiefs, community development officers (CDOs), and town clerks failed to show up, forcing the minister to adjourn the session and instruct Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Milton Andrew Chelangat Kamalingin to look for them.

Many chiefs hurried to the meeting location because Chelangat warned them to do so or else they would face tough times. 

Before the meeting could continue, Amlan Tumusiime, the Kikuube Resident District Commissioner-RDC, alerted the minister that some parish chiefs were extorting money from PDM recipients by claiming to be able to assist them in opening bank accounts and establishing SACCOs, even though the program as a whole is free.

Tumusiime claims that the parish leaders are extorting the PDM recipients for amounts ranging from 50,000 to 200,000 Shillings. 

There was no way the minister could accept this. 

The accused parish chiefs had to be detained right once, he commanded, because their activities were unlawful. 

Tumwesigye disagreed with Byamukama’s order to detain the parish chiefs and charged at the the minister and attempted to assault him.

The councilor was captured by the minister’s security, who then took him to the Kikuube central police station. 

Byamukama questioned why a leader would defend parish heads accused of extorting money from the public and implied that the councilor might have been a collaborator in the act. 

The distribution of funds to PDM beneficiaries was suspended by Byamukama until all the problems were resolved.

Later, Tumwesigye was sent to the Hoima City Central Police Station, where he is now being held. 

The councilor has been detained, according to Julius Hakiza, a police spokeswoman for the Albertine district. They have preferred accusations of making threats of violence, undermining government initiatives, and obstructing.

The RDC has condemned the councilor’s conduct, saying it was a total shame for leaders in the district. This is not the first time Tumwesigye is being arrested over assault. In May, Tumwesigye was arrested for allegedly assaulting Zulia Nyakahara, the Kiziranfumbi town council female councillor, who also doubles as the district finance secretary on April 28, 2022, during a field visit by the Minister of State for Lands, Sam Mayanja to Nyairongo village in Kaseeta B Parish, Kabwoya sub-county.

The minister traveled to Kikuube to look into the cruel eviction of more than 20,000 people from land in the Bugoma forest that the Bunyoro Kingdom had leased to Hoima Sugar Limited. Due to an unidentified miscommunication between the two councilors, Tumwesigye struck Nyakahara. As a result, Nyakahara reported the attack under SD Ref 38/28/04/2022 at Kikuube Central Police Station. Police then started looking into the allegations against the councilor, which resulted in his arrest and detention.

Later, he appeared in court, where he was accused of assault and granted bail.